4 Healthy Recipes for Busy Nights

When the days are shorter and the nights are colder, who wants to waste precious time in the kitchen? Not me! Every minute counts, especially when we're all trying to stick with our resolutions to eat better, move more, and get healthier. To help my family manage their busy schedules and still get a healthy meal in their bellies, I created a few new quick recipes. I hope you like them!

This light recipe is great for lunch, supper, or both. It serves eight, so cook once and eat twice! I love this recipe because I can serve it to my family for dinner and have plenty of leftovers for lunches. It's spicy without any heat, so it's a great intro to new flavors for those with mild palates.

This dish is perfect for busy nights. I marinade the chicken in the morning, grill it at night, and serve it with steamed or frozen vegetables and brown rice that I cook on nights when I have more time.

I love this stew because it can be made basically from your pantry. I always keep red potatoes, turkey sausage, and beans on hand. It's great for those nights when you just don't want to brave the cold to go to the supermarket.

224 calories, 4 g fat, 9 g fiber

What are your favorite busy-night meals in winter?

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Comments

First off I am new and still getting my bearings....lol. I am off to a slow start this time rather than putting all kinds of restrictions in place and setting myself up for failure.....again *sigh* I have been reading these posts and find many of them quite beneficial so I print them off and place in my binder. Lately I have noticed people saving Blogs to their favorites. How are you doing this? I am likely missing something since I am looking for an add button somewhere on the actual page I am reading. If someone could offer me assistance I would really appreciate it!!
- 1/20/2011 1:54:46 PM

For a busy night premade rice, beans and steamed veggies is great. I'm a huge fan of premaking vegetarian casseroles for those nights when I don't have the time for anything else.
- 1/19/2011 11:48:54 AM

I make a very simple veggie soup. Two cans veg-all, one can diced tomato and one can tomato puree and lb of 93% lean ground beef. It's tasty, filling and extremely easy to make. My 12 year old even likes it.
- 1/19/2011 8:01:13 AM

A thing we do about every week is a stir fry. 2 chicken breasts in thin stips, empty out the veggies from the fridge; carrots, peppers, onions, garlic, ginger, broccoli, cabbage, zuchini ect ect, cut into thin strips, stir fry in a super hot wok with a little oil - add a little broth/water + soy sauce + ketchup... On the days where we have enough veggies, we don't even ad rice, we just eat a huge portion of this - the meat will keep you full.
- 1/19/2011 7:31:46 AM

"When the days are shorter and the nights are colder, who wants to waste precious time in the kitchen?" Heavens - no wonder so many people no longer cook. When did cooking healthful meals become a burden and a waste of time? Sorry, Chef Meg, that first line made me shudder. Falling out of cooking is what has made us so unhealthy as a nation - time for chefs to lead the march back into the kitchen!
- 1/19/2011 5:21:42 AM

I make a "garbage soup"...chicken broth and diced tomato base and then anything and everything that is leftover in my refrig! I also freeze leftovers just for this purpose...add some light wheat rolls and yummy!!!
- 1/18/2011 7:01:57 PM

I like to use a ham bone left over from dinner (with some ham still on it) and make split pea soup. I freeze this into one and two-serving containers and whenever we don't want to cook, we can dump a container of soup into a bowl and microwave it. This, along with a grilled cheese sandwich (lite bread, low-fat cheese and a dab of margerine), is very filling and warm on a cold night.
- 1/18/2011 4:12:32 PM

my busy night dinner usually is any sort of pasta with a lot of rocket salad and a little pesto or olive oil on top; we also love omelettes with some vegetables that are left over from previous meals and with ham; great also is soup - i always cook much more when i prepare e.g. carrot soup and freeze away a few portions which are then great to take out of the fridge in the morning, and a great dinner in the evening........
- 1/18/2011 3:06:08 PM

Our whole family loves homemade pizza. I like mine topped with chicken and veggies. We make our own pizza shells ahead of time and freeze them. We often shred & freeze cheese to save time later. And to save even more time, we grill extra chicken that we chop & freeze ahead of time, too.
- 1/18/2011 2:58:40 PM

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